Rocky fought at a disciplined 183-188 for the most part which places him in the middle of the cruiserweight limit?
?If we compare either the fight itself or each of the two men (Floyd and De La Hoya) involved with the glory days of pugilist masters like Ray Robinson and the almost unbelievable fights he had, we are going way too far with the hype? Look at the facts, Robinson had over two hundred fights as a pro?over twice as many as both Oscar and Floyd combined. And Ray was never once legitimately KO?d. Fighters were just tougher back in Robbie?s day. It?s that simple.?-?James Slater (ESB)
?The latest is the greatest.??Anonymous
I greatly admire Rocky Marciano for any number of reasons, not least of which is that he was close to being from my era and my generation. That he was an Italian doesn?t hurt much either. He was a great fighter who did what he had to do against everyone put in from of him. Of course, looking through the prism of nostalgia makes everything seem better and I like to play out old-school memories just like other old-timers. However, I also try to be analytical and rigorously objective when making comparisons between the past and the present?and that?s where the issue of generational prejudice comes in (some call it ?era? prejudice). And that?s where comparisons between The Rock and modern fighters come in as well.
Cruiserweight Division
The cruiserweight division was first established by the WBC in 1979 to accommodate smaller heavyweights who could not compete with the growing size of fighters. In fact, during the 1970s it became fairly standard that heavyweight boxers weighed between 220 pounds and 230 pounds. Many boxing officials felt that requiring men weighing between 176 pounds and 190 pounds to fight much larger men was unfair. The trend in growing size has continued to the point where many call the current crop of large heavyweights ?The New Norm.? Within this context, should The Rock be compared to more recent heavyweights in the mold of Ali, Lennox Lewis, Riddick Bowe, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, or the Klitschkos? Well, in the opinion of many (including me), he simply was not big enough.
Rocky fought at a disciplined 183-188 for the most part which places him in the middle of the cruiserweight limit. Thus a more accurate, albeit retrospective, gage is to use the Theory of Relativity and compare Rocky to the likes of the following representative list of fighters who at one time or another fought or fight at cruiserweight (175-200 pounds). More to the point, how would Marciano have done against men like Marvin Camel, Lee Roy Murphy, Carlos De Leon, Dwight Muhammad Qawi, Ralf Rocchigiani, Orlin Norris, Fabrice Tiozzo, Vassily Jirov, and James Toney?or Evander Holyfield (when he was cruiserweight champion) or the Dariusz Michalczewski of 1994?
The List
Yoan Pablo Hernandez Krzysztof Wlodarczyk Ola Afolabi Ilunga Makuba Mateusz Masternak Thabiso Mchunu Dmytro Kucher Danny Green Denis Lebedev O?Neil Bell Firat Arslan Giacobbe Fragomeni S.T. Gordon Enzo Maccarinelli Arthur Williams Kenny Keene Orlin Norris Vadim Tokarev Jean Marc Mormeck Chisanda Mutti Tony Mundine Dwight Muhammad Qawi Ralf Rocchigiani Carl Thompson James Toney Piet Crous Carlos De Leon Marco Huck Emmanuel Nwodo Steve Cunningham Bert Cooper Rico Hoye Grigory Drozd Pietro Aurino Johnathon Banks BJ Flores Felix Cora Jr. Valery Brudov Wayne Braithwaite Guillermo Jones Vassily Jirov Rydell Booker Anaclet Wamba Johnny Nelson Ricky Parkey Mate Parlov Marvin Camel Ossie Ocasio Boone Pultz Johnny DuPlooy Henry Tillman Eddie Taylor Alonzo Ratliff Eddie Mustafa Muhammad Bash Ali Marc Randazzo Torsten May Glenn McCrory Adolpho Washington Gary Mason Chris Byrd Alfred Cole Imamu Mayfield
In short, when I compare Marciano to top cruiserweights, I am comparing apples to apples except for the difference in era. I try to take into account all essential variables such as number of fights, era (for example, the ?70s were a great time for heavyweights), stamina, amateur pedigree, training techniques and methodology, records, style, chin, KO percentages, skill-sets, entire body of work, prime body of work, dominance, quality of opposition, management, etc. When this is done, myth tends to get stripped away from the facts. When this is done, generational prejudice is largely removed from the equation.
And when this is done, Rocky Marciano quickly becomes the greatest cruiserweight in history?while still being ONE OF THE great heavyweights.
